Crash driver rebuilding ‘disintegrated’ sports car
A Yaldhurst man’s efforts to put things right after a high-speed crash include attempting to rebuild the sports car that “virtually disintegrated” on impact at 169km an hour.
Dean Walter Louis’ reparation efforts counted in his favour at his Christchurch District Court sentencing on three charges of driving dangerously and injuring his passengers.
Judge Raoul Neave said it was “nothing short of miraculous” that no-one had been killed in the August 2014 crash near Kirwee when Louis lost control and ran into a fence.
Louis, 29, was driving at high speed after an altercation in Darfield with the occupants of another sports car. The police estimated his speed at 169km an hour when the borrowed car crashed.
The court was told earlier that the owner of the crashed car, who was a passenger, had lost $5000 cash from his wallet at the crash scene. However an earlier judge said that although there was suspicion, Louis was not charged and there was no proof he took it.
Defence counsel Kirsty May emphasised that view at the sentencing, saying that the prosecutor accepted that no charge had been laid against Louis.
Judge Neave said an earlier judge had ruled the missing money was not to be taken into account, and he agreed.
He said a home detention sentence could be considered because of Louis’ reparation efforts. He had done all that was practical to fix the vehicle, which had taken a lot of time, effort, and money, after it had virtually disintegrated in the crash. Louis helps to run a car wrecking yard.
The insurers for the farmers were expect to seek payment from him for the damage to the fence he ran into.
Judge Neave imposed six months of home detention. He said that was only feasible because Louis’ father had moved out of the Yaldhurst home, and Louis would be living with his mother. The relationship with the father had been seen as “sufficiently poisonous” that the address was not suitable for home detention until he moved out.
The home detention will include special conditions for courses to ensure Louis’ behaviour is not repeated, and he was also disqualified from driving for two years.
Category: Focus
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